novelraw Chapter 259 : A Father Knows His Child Best (2)
Chapter 259 : A Father Knows His Child Best (2)
Chapter 259: A Father Knows His Child Best (2)
‘It was more serious than he had thought.’
The moment Tang Muyeol saw Sewoon’s face, his expression darkened even further.
On his son’s face, the shadows of despair and self-reproach were etched with painful clarity.
Tang Muyeol slowly swept his gaze across the room, where cold air lingered.
The energy within the chamber had sunk heavily, like an afterimage of scattered killing intent still clinging to the space.
It was not difficult to imagine how violently his son had writhed in agony.
“Serin, you should step outside for a moment. I have something I must discuss privately with Sewoon.”
“Father, but—”
“Ahem.”
Tang Serin wanted to remain out of worry, but upon meeting Tang Muyeol’s resolute gaze, she reluctantly pushed herself up.
That gaze was not a simple rebuke. Within it lay the grim resolve of someone who understood the suffering that had befallen his son.
“I understand…….”
Tang Serin stared at her younger brother for a long while before closing the door behind her with visible effort.
After that, silence descended upon the room.
The two—father and son—remained wordless for a long time.
At last, Tang Muyeol slowly spoke toward Sewoon.
“From what I can see, your injuries seem to have healed.”
“……Yes. I apologize for causing you concern.”
Sewoon replied quietly with his head bowed.
There was still no vitality in his voice.
Though his physical body had recovered, his soul seemed as though it were still stranded amid the ruins of Huayin County.
Tang Muyeol recognized at a glance that Sewoon was currently ensnared by Inner Demons.
The death of Yoo Jinhak, and his own helplessness.
That overwhelming despair was gnawing away at his son’s inner self.
Unlike Serin, Tang Muyeol guided the conversation without indulgent concern.
“I have heard the news about Master Yoo Jinhak.”
Tang Muyeol’s voice sank low.
Deep sorrow lay within it, yet there was no attempt at consolation for Sewoon.
He stated only the facts.
“I am sorry. I… I failed to protect the Alliance Leader. And Myeong Iljin-in as well, because of me—”
Sewoon’s voice trembled miserably.
Veins stood out along his neck, and once again, hot tears welled up in his eyes.
He believed everything to be his fault.
Unable to lift his head, he was crushed by the guilt that two pillars of the martial world had fallen meaninglessly due to his own powerlessness.
Tang Muyeol silently watched his son.
Memories overlapped—of a child not yet three years old, pounding a hammer in the smithy, charcoal smudged across his nose as he ran into his father’s arms.
That child, once so small, had now become a grown man writhing in pain under the immense weight of the martial world.
Tang Muyeol accepted every ounce of sorrow his son poured out without a word.
Yet he sensed that the time had come to cut away his son’s festering wound.
Slap!
“……!!”
Sewoon’s head snapped to the side.
Breaking the stillness, Tang Muyeol suddenly struck his son across the cheek.
There was neither energy nor strength imbued in the blow, yet it hurt Sewoon more than any attack ever had.
“How could someone who leads the Tang Clan as its Clan Head commit such a pathetic act!”
Tang Muyeol’s voice was sharp as a cold blade, devoid of any gentleness.
Though his voice trembled with anger, that anger was not because Sewoon had failed to protect the Sword Emperor, a hero of the martial world.
“If you continue to act this pitifully, then they truly die for nothing.”
“……!”
Sewoon could not hide his shock at those words.
“Has what they left behind disappeared? Have the will and the principles they left in this martial world vanished?!”
“……!”
Tang Muyeol was not wrong.
Though Yoo Jinhak and Myeong Iljin-in had met their deaths at the hands of the Blood Demon, the will they sought to protect had never vanished.
It remained intact within the hearts of every surviving martial artist.
As Sewoon stood unable to respond, Tang Muyeol continued.
“Those two martial artists live on within our hearts by upholding their chivalry and their path. You must engrave that truth firmly into your mind.”
Tang Muyeol’s voice now resembled that of a master imparting instruction.
And the father did not stop there.
“What will you do now?”
“……!”
Sewoon felt his heart sink.
His heart pounded painfully.
His thoughts were tangled like a knotted skein of thread.
…What should he truly do now?
As was well known, the Central Plains had fallen into chaos due to the Blood Cult, subdued even before the overwhelming power of the Blood Demon who had forced the World’s Strongest Man to his knees.
The Sewoon of before would have unleashed everything he had prepared and stood at the very forefront, cutting down his enemies.
But now, those words did not come easily to his lips.
Another grave concern had filled his mind.
‘If even my actions were part of the Blood Demon’s scheme…… if clenching my teeth and growing stronger only benefits that bastard…….’
After fighting the Blood Demon, he had realized it.
The reason the Blood Demon had sent him back to the past.
That monster desired for him to reach the very pinnacle of the Life and Death Realm.
And he was certain—once he reached that realm, the Blood Demon’s final plan would come to fruition.
That conviction plunged Sewoon into even deeper confusion.
With great difficulty, Sewoon spoke.
“……Father, I am afraid. I fear that the path I intended to walk may instead lead this world toward even greater destruction…….”
“Why do you think that?”
“That is because…….”
Sewoon could not bring himself to continue.
To explain it, he would have to confess that he had died once and returned to life.
That after failing to protect his father in the past and letting him meet death, he had shamefully returned here alone.
His lips would not part.
He feared that his existence might not be accepted, that his family would be disappointed upon learning of his past failures.
That fear bound his tongue tightly.
And then, at that moment—
“Was it because the Blood Demon sent you to the past?”
“……!!”
From Tang Muyeol’s lips, Sewoon’s deepest secret burst forth.
Incredibly, Tang Muyeol spoke aloud the fact that he had returned to the past.
That Tang Muyeol knew of this—what in the world had happened?
“What are you so shocked about? Did you truly believe your father would never notice for his entire life?”
When Sewoon, frozen in shock, could not utter a word, Tang Muyeol continued.
Within his voice lay deep compassion for his son, along with wisdom that seemed to see through everything.
“I had thought for a long time that something about you had changed. At first, I wondered if a great shock had changed you for the better. But as I followed your path more closely, I could not shake a certain suspicion.”
To be honest, Tang Muyeol had initially been pleased by the changes in his son.
But that did not last long. At the same time, his son had looked far too precarious.
In Tang Muyeol’s eyes—
No, in a father’s eyes, he could instinctively see that his son was desperately clinging to life within memories, amid some unknown and horrific pain.
“There were far too many things you accomplished that would have been impossible had you not known the past. And once I learned of the Blood Cult through you, and now of the existence called the Blood Demon, all the doubts I had carried were finally resolved.”
Tang Muyeol slowly looked at Sewoon.
Countless emotions were contained in that gaze.
“I understood why you had been grinding your teeth and running forward like that.”
“Father…….”
It was the first time the truth of his return had been revealed to anyone.
He was simply frightened—terrified.
Afraid that he would not be accepted.
But then, Tang Muyeol stepped forward and embraced Sewoon.
“You must have suffered so much all this time. You truly endured a great deal, my son.”
“Khk……!”
His embrace was immensely warm.
Like a small child, Sewoon shed hot tears in his father’s arms.
Those tears washed away all the pain he had suppressed, all the sorrow, and the tangled emotions that had tormented him.
Tang Muyeol gently soothed the heart of a son who had borne everything alone with great difficulty.
“No matter what happened, you are still my son. That fact does not change.”
Tang Muyeol’s warm voice whispered by Sewoon’s ear.
It seemed to calm all of Sewoon’s fears and anxieties.
He conveyed that no matter what kind of life his son had lived in the past, no matter what choices he had made, he loved—and would continue to love—the son who stood before him now.
As the emotions the two had accumulated over the years crossed and intertwined, Sewoon gradually regained his composure.
Only then did Tang Muyeol resume speaking.
“Even if your coming to the past was part of the Blood Demon’s plan, your efforts and your choices until now were not wrong.”
“……!”
“That creature will inevitably lose to you, Sewoon.”
Tang Muyeol’s words were not mere consolation.
They carried an unmistakable certainty born of trust in his son.
“But there is something you must know, Sewoon.”
“I will engrave it in my heart. Please tell me, Father.”
Sewoon’s gaze grew firm once more, earnest resolve filling his voice.
Tang Muyeol’s eyes gleamed.
And he began to point out the one part his son had ‘forgotten.’
“No matter how one’s internal organs are burned away by virulent poison, no matter how one’s living flesh is torn apart by one’s own hidden weapons, enduring and advancing again—that is the will of the Tang Clan.”
“……!!”
Tang Muyeol’s voice was low, yet overwhelming.
How could Sewoon not know?
It was the indomitable spirit the ancestors of the Tang Clan had upheld through countless hardships.
“And the reason the blood of the Tang Clan seeks to stand firm against any trial or adversity is……”
Tang Muyeol looked deeply into Sewoon’s eyes.
His gaze pierced through his son’s inner confusion, striving to point out the true essence hidden within.
“It is never for revenge or for harming enemies, but to protect the comrades and family standing behind us.”
“……!!”
At that moment, Sewoon was struck by the greatest shock of all.
Within his mind, the years he had lived since returning to the past unfurled rapidly, like a flash of memories before death.
After his return, Sewoon had burned himself for a single purpose alone.
To kill the Blood Demon—the source of every tragedy—and take revenge.
But Tang Muyeol said otherwise.
That revenge came second.
That a member of the Tang Clan sought strength solely from the will to protect those they loved.
‘Ah…’
Gradually, the fog in his mind lifted, and the image of the Blood Demon that had tormented him until now began to fade.
Seeing this, Tang Muyeol’s expression brightened.
‘Yes. He has realized it at last.’
As an old sage once said—
No one understands a child better than their father.
“Now then, tell me. What will you truly do?”
Tang Muyeol asked the same question once more.
This time, Sewoon’s gaze was entirely different.
The vitality that had vanished had returned in full.
Sewoon slowly opened his mouth.
“I will protect everyone.”
“Yes. That is exactly it.”
Tang Muyeol finally broke into a radiant smile.